Photographic material



Jan. 16,1945. J Q YULE 2,367,551

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL Filed April 1, 1942 /2\ 6REE/Y SENSITIVE N/THYELLOW OR GREEN COUPLER.

5/850 SENS/T/VE N/TH BLUE (0/? MAGENTA) COUPLER. \SUPPORT.

ADHESIVE.

SUPPORT.

GREEN SENSITIVE WITH YELLOW OR GREEN COUPLER.

RED SENS/ T/VE WI TH BL UE COUPLER.

SENSITIVE A/ITH YELLONOR GREEN COUPLER.

RED SENS/ T/VE h// TH MAGENTA COUPLER SENS/Tl VE h/ITH C VAN COUPLERSUPPORT.

\GREEN SENS/T/VE WITH YELLOW [7/ COUPLER.

. bkfasf/vs/r/ve N/TH 5LUE[0RMA6ENTA 7 g 4 4 DEVELOPABLE To .sAME GAMMA.

SUPPORT FIG. 5

L/KE F763 h/ITH CYANLAVER-DEVELOPABLE 70 A GAMMA LESS THAN YELLOW ANDMAGENTA LAYERS.

SUPPOR T.

GREENSENS/T/VE h/ITH YELLOW COUPLER.

GREENSENS/T/VE H/TH CYAN COUPLER.

RED SENS/T/VE W/TH MAGENTA COUPLER. RED \SENS/T/VE WITH CYAN COUPLER.

SUPPORT.

JOHN A. C. V/LE Patented Jan. 16, 1945 PHOTOGRAPH) MATERIAL John A. C.Yule, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 1, 1942, Serial No.437,155

6 Claims. (01. 95-2) This invention relates to photosensitive materialsand particularly to materials used for color reproduction.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide aphotographic material for making a multi-colored mask for use in thecolor correction process described in my copending application filedconcurrently herewith.

Specifically, it is the object of the invention to provide a materialwhich can be developed to a multi-colored mask for a positive ornegative multi-color record through which it has been exposed. When themask is placed in optical register with the original multi-coloredrecord, prints may be made therefrom either in the form of colorseparation records for use in photomechanical processes or in the formof multilayer subtractive color records.

According to the invention, such a material is multilayer and is made upof a plurality oi parts each of which consists of one or more or thelayers. One part is sensitive to green light only by suitablesensitization and filtering, and this part contains color couplersdevelopable to a color which absorbs blue and transmits green light.Such a color in one embodiment is yellow; in another embodiment it isgreen. Another part of the material is sensitive to primary red lightonly and contains couplers developable to blue.

Suitable couplers are described in U. 8. Patent 2,126,337 Mannes andGodowsky, and in copending applications 314,689, Mannes and Godowsky nowU. S. Patent 2,304,940, and 371,612, Jelley and Vittum, now U. S. Patent2,322,027. In general, couplers consist of those compounds having areactive methylene group or phenolic hydroxyl group so that they couplewith the development product of a primary aromatic amino developingagent to give different colors depending on which coupler is selected.

In one embodiment of the invention, the redsensitive part of thematerial consists of twov layers, one of which contains a couplerdevelopable to magenta, and the other of which contains a couplerdevelopable to cyan. Similarly, in the embodiment in which thegreen-sensitive part is to be developed to green, it may be made of twolayers, one developable to yellow and the other to cyan.

Since satisfactory color correction according to the invention of mycopending application can be obtained with equal amounts of correctionfor the blue and green separations, one embodiment of the presentinvention has the green and redsensitive parts developable to equalequivalent games. In that embodiment in which the green-sensitive partis developable to yellow and the red-sensitive part is developable toblue, the fact that both parts are developable to the same equivalentgamma simultaneously also means that a neutral gray area in the recordbeing masked will reproduce as a neutral gray in the mask itself whichthus permits a convenient check on whether the processing of the mask isproceeding properly.

The equivalent gamma of a dye image is the neutral gramma it would haveit just suflicient of the complementary dye or dyes is added to give aneutral color. In fact, any other method of defining the gamma of acolor layer depends on the hue of the illuminating light, and hence, isnot as definite as the characteristic called. "equivalent gamma.

In a difierent embodiment of the invention which is possible when thered-sensitive part is made of two layers, the layer developable to cyanis arranged to give a slightly reduced gamma compared to the otherlayers when all three layers are developed simultaneously.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, thismulti-layer material is provided with an adhesive on one surface so thatit may be attached to the multi-colored record being copied duringexposure and processing of the mask and during printing from the recordthus masked.

Attention is drawn to the fact that the mask is negative with respect tothe exposing image; 1. e., isnegative ii. the original record ispositive and is positive ii the original record is negative, as requiredby the invention of my application concurrently filed and referred toabove. The coupler type of color development is particularly useful whennegative records are thus required.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a general form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is similar to Fig. 1 but has an adhesive coating:

Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively illustrate various forms of theembodiment shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 a support l0 such as the usual film base carries two layers Iiand I2 of which the lower one is sensitive to red light and contains acoupler so as to be developable preferably to blue or at least to acolor which transmits blue and absorbs green. The upper layer I2 issensitive to green light and contains couplers so as to be developableto yellow or green. The sensitization of the layers may involve suitablefiltering such as red illter between the two layers and/or a yellowfilter on top of the upper layer to cut 01! blue light. In thatembodiment in which the layer it is developable to green, it issometimes desirable to have the layer ll developable to thecomplementary-magenta rather than to primary blue. In Fig. 2 these samesensitive layers are carried on a thin support I! having an adhesive I4on the other surface thereof so that the material may be attached to themulti-color record through which it is to be exposed. The support Itacts to protect the record while the layers liiand II are beingprocessed.

In Fig: 3 the upper layer i2 is green-sensitive with a yellow or greencoupler as in Fig. 1, but the red-iaensitive part consists of two layersii and II with'cyan and magenta couplers respectively. Of course, theblue coupler of layer ii in Fig. 1 may bemade up of cyan and magentacouplers.

Fig. 4"is similar to Fig. l in that the lower layer is red-sensitivewith a blue coupler which may comprise magenta and cyan couplers in thedifferent layers as in Fig. 3 and the green-sensitive layer contains acoupler which absorbs blue and transmits green. As is common practicewhen discussing dyes, the terms "transmit" and "absorb are used onlyrelatively meaning "transmit to a high degree" or "absorb to a highdegree, since no dye absorbs any color completely or transmits any colorcompletely. The important feature of Fig. 4 is that the two parts,whether made of two or more layers, are developable to the sameequivalent gamma. This has been shown to give satisfactory colorcorrection in most color reproduction processes. If the green-sensitivelayer specifically contains a yellow coupler (the other embodiment beingthe case wherein it contains a green;coupler), the yellow and blue arecomplementary so that a gray area in the record being masked reproducesas gray in this mask For example, the gray scale which is oftenincorporated into or along side a multi-colored record to be printedwill in this embodiment reproduce as neutral gray, thus giving aconvenient check on the processing of the mater al.

on the other hand. certain photomechanical processes require reducedcontrasts in the yellow and magenta printers; and hence it is sometimesconvenient to make a multi-colored mask which has a higher gamma to blueand green light. Therefore, as shown in. Fig. 5, a red-sensitive layercontaining a cyan coupler is made of slightly less contrasty materialthan the layers II and 22 containing magenta and yellow couplersrespectively. As in Fig. 3, the upper layer 22 may contain either ayellow or green coupler depending on what type of color correction isdesired; 1. e., on whether correction of blue by green and green by redonly are desired, or whether correction of red by green is also desired.In Fig. 6 the red-sensitive part is divided into two layers I I and IIas in F'g. 3, and the greensensitive part is also divided into twosensitive layers containing cyan and yellow couplers respectively. orcourse, the possibility of having the green part in two layers and thered-senstive part in one layer only with a blue coupler might beconsidered, but since blue couplers are rare, the splitting of thered-sensitive part into two layers is more useful than the splitting ofthe green-sensitive part which in general is not nece-ary since bothyellow and green couplers are well known and are satisfactory.

Having thus described various embodiments of my invention, I wish topoint out that it is not limited to these structures, but is of thescope of the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis:

1. A multi-layer material for making a universal color correcting masknegative to the exposing light comprising one part which is sensitive togreen light and is not sensitive to red light and which contains colorcouplers developable to a color which absorbs blue and transmits greenand another part of which is sensitive to red light and is not sensitiveto green light and is in two layers one of which contains a couplerdevelopable to magenta and the other of which contains a couplerdevelopable to cyan.

2. A multi-layer material for making a universal color correctng masknegative to the exposing light comprising one part which is a layersensitive to green light and is not sensitive to red light and whichcontains a yellow coupler and another part which is sensitive to redlight and is not sensitive to green light and is in two layersrespectively containing magenta and cyan couplers, the cyan layer beingdevelopable simultaneously with the other two layers to a gamma slightlyless than that of either of said other two layers.

3. A multi-layer material for making a universal color correcting-masknegative to the exposing light, the sensitive layers of said materialconsisting solely of one part which is sensitive'to green light and isnot sensitive to red light and which contains color couplers developableto a color which absorbs blue and transmits green and another part whichis sensitive to red light and is not sensitive to green light and whichconta ns color couplers developable to a color which absorbs green andtransmits blue, said couplers being developable simultaneously tocomplementary colors and including a yellow coupler in the greensensitive part, a magenta coupler in the red sensitive part and a cyancoupler in only one of sa d parts.

4. A multi-layer material for making a universal color correcting masknegative to the exposing light, the sensitive layers of said materialconsisting solely of one part which is sensit've to green light and isnot sensitive to red light and which contains a yellow coupler andanother part which is sensitive to red light and is not sensitive togreen light and which contains two color couplers one developable tocyan and the other simultaneously developable to magenta.

5. A multi-layer material for making a universal color correcting masknegative to the exposing light, the senstive layers of said materialconsisting solely of one part which is sensitive to green light and isnot sensitive to red light and which contains two couplers onedevelopable to cyan and the other simultaneously to yellow and anotherpart which :s sensitive to red light and is notsensitive to green lightand which contains a magenta coupler.

6. A multi-layer material according to claim 3 in which the two partscontain such relative amounts of silver halide that they are devel0pable ,smultaneously to substantially the same equivalent gamma.

JOHN A. C. YULE.

